Odyssey Marine Exploration

Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. is an American treasure hunter company based in Tampa / Florida. The company was founded in 1994 and is listed on the stock exchange since 1997. Greg Stemm is a co-founder and currently CEO (as of 2012).

History

Odyssey became known ( in 1694 declined in the Strait of Gibraltar) and to the project by the salvage of ship resources such as a paddle steamer Republic (2003 salvaged, 1865 sunk off the coast of Georgia, worth more than 75 million dollars), the British warship Sussex " Black Swan " salvaged ship (probably the greatest treasure found so far ), is currently much debate about its identity.

Early February 2009 it was announced that the company has discovered the wreck of the British Victory in front of the Channel Islands. In February 2012, the British Ministry of Defence handed over the salvage rights to OME. It was agreed that British researchers may evaluate the Fund, will go 20 % of the find to the United Kingdom and want to leave 80 % of the find in the exploration company. The salvage of the find is scheduled to begin in 2012. In fact, this transfer of salvage rights to Odyssey Marine Exploration contradicts accepted by the British government principles of UNESCO, since among other things, a pre - funding is not secured, but the company would be dependent on revenues from the finds. Standards in the preservation of underwater cultural heritage are not backed up.

A U.S. court ruled on September 21, 2011 compared Odyssey that it has passed the 2007 found in a shipwreck gold treasure to Spain. Odyssey argued that the reference would have been located in international waters.

On September 26, 2011, the Company announced to have achieved the largest ever underwater treasure find. In international waters 300 miles ( 480 km ) off Ireland in 4700 m depth the wreck of the Gairsoppa was localized with a remote-controlled submarine. The 1941 sunk in WW2 by the Germans British cargo ship should - according to a contemporary report - as the most valuable cargo have up to 198 tons of silver bullion aboard, worth an estimated 150 million euros. Fought by the British government in 2010 has one, to be able to salvage the ship and allowed to keep 80 percent of the treasure. The rest goes to the state the UK.

In October 2011, the Fund was the Mantola post.

Equipment and Procedure

The company invested about $ 35,000 a day in the search for wrecks and treasures. Currently 4 ships are used, including the " John Lethbridge ", which is primarily used for sonar investigations and the " Odyssey Explorer ". This is a 76m long and 1,700 GRT heavy special vessel. With this ship, the salvage operations are performed. It is equipped with the latest technology, including an 8 -ton and 4 million euros more expensive diving robot.

All rescues are accurately prepared. In the run oodles be spotted in old packing lists, shipping registers and records to possibly select rewarding wrecks. In painstaking work will then attempt to locate the approximate location of the wreck. It then uses sonar millimeter accurate maps of the seabed created and evaluated. Only after their evaluation potential positions for dives are defined. Then an attempt is made on site, to find the wreck and identified. It then makes the diving robot thousands of photos, which are assembled by computer support to a mosaic. Thus one obtains a highly accurate map of the place where the wreck lies.

Often this can be narrowed down based on guns age, origin and nature of the wreck. For this, the findings need to be carefully examined, for example because the size is critical. Also wrecks that had no valuable cargo are accurately measured and determined, so is valuable underwater archeology done. All findings must be registered. Even if the location is in international waters, a state could lay claim to the Fund, as has happened several times.

Therefore one tries already possible to conclude a salvage agreement with the country concerned before the recovery. Some finds in British waters could be salvaged, because British archaeologists were on board, who were allowed to examine all findings accurately. From the value of the charge 20 % were ceded to the British Government, 80 %, the company received, but which had to deny any and all costs thereof.

Among scientists and conservationists such salvage company will be partly considered as destruction of cultural heritage.